Addressing the pipework in South Africa’s oldest playable organ: a materialist-political history

Abstract

A domestic organ built by William Hill between 1832 and 1837, currently housed at Wesley Methodist Chapel in Makhanda (formerly Grahamstown), is amongst the oldest pipe organs in South Africa. It is thought to have belonged to Lt Gen. Sir Henry Somerset and his wife Frances, who were tied to the British settlement of the Eastern Cape in 1820. The organ’s age, in relation to this history of settlement, has allowed it to generate interest as an artefact of early colonial life in Makhanda. Several authors have written about the Hill organ, among whom Percival Kirby and Albert Troskie have been keen to stress the instrument’s unchanged nature. However, the idea that the organ has remained unchanged is not reflected in the material and archival history of the instrument. The pipework and a documented history of regular repairs suggest that the Hill organ has been significantly changed at least once since its initial construction. In addressing these omissions, I hope to destabilise existing narratives and perceptions of the instrument. By focusing on its ‘unchanged’ nature as a point of merit, authors such as Kirby and Troskie have hindered a nuanced understanding of the organ’s societal context and impeded an appraisal of its legacy as a settler colonial artefact.